Butterfield native and Cassville graduate Donald Privett has landed his dream job.
Appointed interim police chief on June 1, 2023 after the retirement of former Chief Dana Kammerlohr, Privett rose to the top of a field of more than a dozen candidates to be named Police Chief on Jan. 9.
“This is a dream come true, and I am looking forward to it,” he said. “I asked all the guys how they felt, and they said it as the decision they wanted.
“I started here Sept. 25, 2006, and shortly after I started, I set the goal that I would like to be chief. It feels great to be chief of the hometown where I grew up.”
Privett is a lifelong Butterfield resident and graduated from Cassville High School in 1996 as a 13-year senior, attending the district K-12.
“I know a ton of people, and the people are familiar with me from my school days to my 24 years in the fire service,” he said.
The city, following Kammerlohr’s retirement after 14 years, hired Strategic Government Resources (SGR), based in Texas, for $25,000 to conduct the search for the next chief.
Mayor Bill Shiveley said as a result, the city received applications from across the country, and SGR narrowed the list down to about 8-10 initially. The results were determined via a questionnaire and scoring process determined by SGR “From there we got to four, then from there e interviewed two,” Shiveley said. “In my opinion, it was Donnie’s operations experience that pushed him to the top. Administration is important, but we need to fix the issues, then deal with the paperwork.”
Shiveley said Privett’s hiring included a deal where there chief will attend community college to help with administration education, and per state law, Privett must attend a week-long training, as well.
“I think we are headed in the right direction with consistent coverage and a chief with a knowledge of the city of Cassville who gets along with people and has good relationships.
“I think he will do us a good job, and I’m really excited for him to do it and look forward to seeing good things out of him.”
Privett said he applied through SGR as soon as he saw its posting for the chief position.
“I went through their application process and the whole nine yards with the online interview and background check,” he said. “[City Administrator] Steve [Walensky] had been supportive of me in the interim, and we enacted all the ideas I took to him. Being familiar with the people and the area also helped, especially in June 2023 when the doctor went missing and we had the homicide.”
During Privett’s six months as interim chief, the department has grown and streamlined.
“We are back to full staff and have gained two positions that will allow us to have two full-time road officers on duty 24/7, 365 days a year,” he said. “Instead of three shifts, we are moving to 12-hour shifts. This is something we’ve been trying to do for 10 years, and I let the officers pick their hours, which was a huge morale boost. Now that we’re fully staffed, I want to retain them.”
Another interim accomplishment, Privett said, was working with Barry County E9-1-1 to improve reports, which have resulted in officers cutting the 35-40 percent of time spent on paperwork down to about 10-15 percent.
“That means more time on the road, which has resulted in increases in stops and responses,” Privett said. “Being fully staffed has pushed report numbers up, too, but our officers use a wide range of discretion, common sense and good judgement when it comes to traffic stops.”
Cassville has eight officers and 13 total staff once accounting for the chief, Cpt. James Smith, Det. Stuart Lombard, SRO Zach Thompson and Privett’s former sergeant position. Privett said his philosophy to retention is to keep the office in high spirits and with open communication.
“I will keep an open door, and the mood of the office needs to be peaceful,” he said. “I have a list of ideas I want to run by staff and get people’s input.”
Privett said some of his knowledge of the chief’s duties he has learned over the years under three others — Clint Clark, Lonnie McCullough and Kammerlohr.
“I believe they are the three best police chiefs in the world,” he said. “They were all incredible at documentation, and great in the way they talked to the community and residents. Having worked nights, there’s a way you talk to people at night versus how you talk to people in the day — two different types of people. Living here so long has also helped me, because I know so many people and how I should talk to one person versus how I should talk to another.”
Privett will remain fire chief in Butterfield, noting his assistant chief and captain can run the department capably if he is away or unavailable.
A press release from the city of Cassville said Privett was hired as a patrolman in 2006, advancing to the ranks of corporal and sergeant before being named interim last year.
“Donnie’s service and growth in the field of law enforcement has given him a great awareness of the duties, obligations and demands called for with our officers,” the statement said. “He has risen through the ranks and is familiar with each position. This knowledge and understanding will allow him to transition into the position of Police Chief as a servant leader.”
Starting pay at the Cassville Police Department is $21.16 per hour, which amounts to $44,012.80 per year. Privett’s salary starts at $70,000 and raises are based on education, years of service and performance steps based on evaluations.
